November – 2014 – Hellbent for Lipstick

The Vegan Kind Beauty Box November 2014

November 19, 2014

When Gem and I were at the West Midlands Vegan Festival a few weeks back, the lovely people at The Vegan Kind were excited about the launch of their quarterly beauty box. Having already picked up the first one, I couldn’t miss out on the opportunity to subscribe! This box was delivered along with my #TVK13 which you can read about here. This latest box will be released quarterly and will contain a host of Vegan cosmetics – perfect for the cruelty free beauty enthusiast!

Here’s the first ‘official’ The Vegan Kind Beauty Box;

Organic Surge Million Dollar Balm – 30ml (RRP £14.99)

I seem to be building quite a collection of Organic Surge products as of late. This glorious multi-tasking skin soother can be applied to dry areas anywhere, which is great for the looming mid-winter “dry-patch”. The balm is very thick and does take some coaxing out the jar, but once melted a little between fingers, covers the skin nicely. I’ve used this a few times on my elbows and it seems to have done the trick. My only bad point is the scent. It’s not bad, it’s just not pleasant and a little clinical which does remind me a little of bathing patient’s in an array of medicinal moisturisers. Despite this I have every faith in this being a nice nifty dry patch banishing tool for the heating infused winter months.

www.organicsurge.com

Freya Luna Skin Support Facial Steam Bath – 5g (RRP £1.56)

Wow this sachet smells amazing. What a lovely unexpected surprise though and something totally new and different for me to try. This beautiful fragrant sachet contains a blend of lavender and chamomile – simply empty into a bowl of hot water and use to steam your face for 8-10 minutes. Now all I need is 10 minutes piece and quiet without a puppy charging around!

www.freyaluna.com

Freya Luna Happy Feet Footbath – 40g (RRP £4)

Similar to the above facial steam bath and equally as fragrant, this sachet contains enough for 2-3 foot-baths. I’ve been thinking about getting a new foo spa for a while, so perhaps this will spur me on (not that I need any encouragement to shop). I can’t help but hope this is going to be a miracle cure for the morning after a Dakesis show whilst I’ve been stuck on my feet.

www.freyaluna.com

B. Lip and Cheek Tint in “prom” – (RRP £7.99)

This isn’t my first B. lip product and the ones I currently have stashed in my collection are all pretty nice. They apply well and longevity wise, they definitely stand up to the task. This lip and cheek colour is just as great to apply, although not usually a colour I would go for I reckon I can pull off a dusky pink shade on my lips. As for a cheek colour, it’s a little thick and difficult to blend when applied but a perfect color for blush – perhaps I just need a little more time and patience to perfect it!

www.bisforbeautiful.co.uk

Fairy Pants Candy Cane Lip Balm – (RRP £3.99)

I am absolutely head over heels for this lip balm. What better way than to bring some Christmas cheer (it’s not that far away now beauties!) than with this minty vanilla balm. Not only does it smell absolutely amazing, but it makes your lips feel so soft and beautiful. This is definitely taking pride of place in my handbag. I’ve already got my eyes on their banoffee pie and sticky toffee pudding lip balm!

www.fairypants.co.uk

Overall I’m quite thrilled with the contents of this box, although there are a few things I wouldn’t normally use, I’m quite excited about trying something new and having some pamper time. (One can but hope anyway).

If you’d like t0 try The Vegan Kind beauty box, you can do so here for just £15 every 3 months plus p&p. Have you subscribed to this box? What are your thoughts? Are you thinking of subscribing soon? If so, we’d love to hear your thoughts below.

Totally hellbent for cruelty free pamper time

– Pants

Vegan, Vegetarian

The Vegan Kind #TVK13 November 2014 Box Review

November 13, 2014

So this month is officially The Vegan Kinds birthday and after catching up with the lovely people behind it at the West Midlands Vegan Festival a few weeks ago, it looks like there is no sign of them stopping yet! A massive Happy Birthday to them and all the best cruelty free wishes for their future! For those unfamiliar, The Vegan Kind is a monthly cruelty 100% Vegan box filled with yummy edible goodies and at least one lifestyle product. Each month a donation from each box is given to a charity chosen by subscribers. They’ve also recently launched The Vegan Kind beauty box which will run quarterly so keep your eyes peeled for my review of the latest TVKBB since the postman was kind enough to deliver my boxes together!

This month’s box:

Considerit Salted Caramel – 65g (RRP £2.50)

My eyes lit up when I lifted this out of the box. I’m a massive fan of caramel and although i’m fully aware of the dangers of consuming too much sugar, I really couldn’t give a monkeys when it comes to having a whole pot full of the lovely gooey stuff! This month’s recipe card also features this as an ingredient and The Vegan Kind chaps recommend drizzling over vegan ice cream, spooning into hot chocolate or straight out of the tub (erm, yes please!). Despite my overwhelming urge to shot this pot, I’m going to get into the festive spirit and share this with my Vegan friends during Christmas time!

Go to www.consideritchocolate.com for oodles of caramel (and chocolate lots of chocolate).

The Primal Kitchen Coconut & Macadamia Paleo Bar – 45g (RRP £1.59)

I’m a fan of Coconut & Macadamia, but a little less into raisins and dates (those of you who read my TVK reviews regularly, will already know my loathing for these ingredients). Having said that I have a collection of friends who are very ethical in what they choose to put in their mouth so I’m pretty sure this will find a well deserved home after I’ve had a little nibble to make extra sure I won’t like it!

For more paleo products visit The Primal Kitchen.

Rebel Kitchen Orange Choc Mylk – 200ml (RRP £0.90)

The chocolate version of this was featured some boxes ago so I was pretty excited when I saw this month had brought us the Orange Chocolate flavour! The last Choco Mylk I indulged in was gorgeous so I have high hopes for this one and probably won’t be sharing this one!

Vist The Rebel Kitchen Website here.

Organic Surge Awakening Shower Gel – 250ml (RRP £5.99)

Organic Surge Shower Gel is another previously featured product from one of my first boxes I think. It was truly amazing though so I imagine this will be no exception. When I last used this I felt so fresh and invigorated with zero skin irritations which is a huge bonus. This will take pride of place in my epic shower gel stash (yup, still going from last Christmas!)

There are lots more products over at Organic Surge.

Ten Acre How Chicken Soup Saved the Day Crisps – 40g (RRP £0.80)

Yet another brand that’s been previously featured, but I have to say, Chicken soup really did save the day. Usually I don’t indulge in any goodies from my box until after I’ve posted my blog, but on Monday evening Gem and I went to meet a friend in Birmingham City Centre (it’s best pointing out that Gem and I mostly live on the internet and rarely leave the house except to go to the gym/gigs these days). We had a few wines (9 glasses each in total … oops) and Tuesday morning I woke up with literally the worst hangover in the world. Everything I did … blinking, breathing, peeing, showering … made me very sick and I got to the point around mid day where my stomach was so empty, that my hunger pains were also making me feel sick. I called Brains from the bedroom to find the ten acre crisps in my latest TVK box stashed in the office and even though it took me about four hours to finish the packet, I managed to keep them down and they definitely helped me feel a bit better!

To stock up on some great hangover fixes, visit Ten Acre Crisps here.

Quinola Mothergrain Express Quinoa – 250g (RRP £2.55)

Quinoa seems to be quite a popular thing at the moment and I do enjoy switching up my usual rice and Bulgar wheat for this if I can pick up a good deal. (It’s expensive!) This is a very welcome addition to my kitchen cupboards as I’m always looking for quick things to throw together that aren’t ready meals. Theres quite a lot in this packet so I’ll be sharing it out and cooking up something adventurous.

Visit Quinola for your healthy Quinoa fix!

#TVK13 Recipe Card

This month’s card is from The Vegan Cookie Fairy with a pumpkin spiced salted caramel hot chocolate. A wonderful recipe to test out the Considerit Salted Caramel. Subscribers also receive a lovely recipe binder to hold all their cards once they have subscribed for 6 month’s.

Despite this month’s box having a lot of products I’ve previously received, I really don’t mind. They are all different flavours/varieties and it’s nice to see some of these make a come back. Yet again another great box and a great way to kick off the end of their first year and start of hopefully many more to come. As I regularly say in my reviews, I think this is probably my favourite box, because it opens me up to so many different cruelty free products which is such a huge part of my life. No only does it give smaller brands to opportunity to showcase their glorious products it also gives subscribers the chance to open their minds to all sorts of possibilities (hello Vegan marshmallows!). A great year of boxes and I’m even more excited to see what the future holds for these guys. If you’d like to subscribe, hop on over to The Vegan Kind, subscriptions are £10 + postage and packaging a month.

If you subscribe to this box, let me know what you thought of this month’s goodies, if you aren’t yet a subscriber I’d still love to know what your thoughts are from my post!

Totally hellbent for The Vegan Kind

– Pants

Skincare

The Body Shop Festive Sweet Treats Hand Cream in Vanilla brulee, Glazed Apple & Frosted Cranberry Review

November 12, 2014

Gem and I have been saving up some of our Body Shop “little card of Christmas wishes” from various magazines for a few weeks now. As it happened, we both went to meet a friend in town on Monday and thought it would be such a wasted opportunity if we didn’t go in store and use one of our £3 off cards. After all the new “Christmas” ranges were out and we were both desperate to try out “Vanilla Brulee”.

Despite our best intentions, we both failed at only picking up one item and both ended up with three hand creams thanks to their in store “buy two get one free” offer. I decided to pick up the new ranges; Vanilla Brulee, Glazed Apple and Frosted Cranberry.

Glazed apple is actually much nicer than anticipated and is that typical candy apple fragrance, without being too sickly or sweet. Frosted Cranberry seems to be a new take on the usual “Cranberry” range, but I think this smells much nicer than previous years so I don’t know if they have changed the formula. Lastly, Vanilla Brulee is another gorgeous scent and after sniffing everything else in the range, I’m definitely adding all of the Vanilla Brulee products to my Christmas list this year.

Each hand cream is just £3.50 (from as little as 50p if you’ve picked up a recent little card of Christmas wishes) and in stores they are 3 for 2, so although I didn’t get to use my card due to opting for the in store offer, all three only set me back £7. These are great for testing out the new scents, without diving in head first and purchasing the whole the range in one go.

If you’d like to check out the rest of the range, simply visit The Body Shop’s website here. Although if you’ve already tried these, or the other products then we’d love to hear your thoughts?

Totally hellbent for Christmas time and festive season treats

-Pants

Nails, News

Free Nails Inc. polishes with Glamour

November 11, 2014

This month Glamour are really spoiling us with four very autumnal polishes from Nails Inc – Tate, Hanover Square, Marylebone Mews and Wigmore Street. They are all absolutely gorgeous shades and worth £11 each, so considering the magazine is only £2.00 you’re getting £44.00 of nail polishes for £8 (which is far too much of a bargain for anyone to resist I’m sure!)

All four were instant must-haves for me, but I think the very vampy purple hues of Wigmore Street have stolen my heart and pride of place on my nails for the foreseeable future!

Also included is a 20% off H&M voucher and a Body Shop “Little card of Christmas wishes” worth between £3 and £1000!

Usually I find I have to search around a bit to complete a magazine freebie collection, but I’ve seen all four shades in plenty of shops this time around so if you’re after all four head out now whilst they are plentiful!

Totally hellbent for Glamour filling up at least half of my Nails Inc collection over the past few years!

– Gem

Hauls, Lifestyle, Vegan, Vegetarian

West Midlands Vegan Festival

November 3, 2014

A week on Saturday we pried ourselves away from the internet and our home offices to go to Vegan Fest 2014 in Wolverhampton. We took our trusty carnivorous band mates Adam and Matt along so they could sample some delights. This event had been in our calendar for a few months since we couldn’t get down to London (next year maybe!) but having such an event almost on our door steps really couldn’t be missed. We met many lovely people including the brains and beauty behind The Vegan Kind Box and discovered many delicious treats and shinies to take home as treasured spoils.

Here are some of the delights we brought home:

Round Up Hand Crafted Gourmet Wagon Wheel Cake

I definitely miss marshmallows as a non meat eater. Unfortunately they are in a lot of nice foods – wagon wheels, rocky road cake, luxurious hot chocolates from the German Market. When we saw these, we’d almost convinced ourselves that we didn’t need them. Unfortunately second time round the stalls, we didn’t get away and ended up buying one each. Since I knew I was going for an hour long power walk that evening, I had mine immediately after taking a few snaps and it was absolutely divine! Much better than the “real thing” and something I’ll be on the look out for again.

£2.50 from Ananda Foods

Vege Bears – Slightly Sour

Another thing I miss is sour sweets – Haribo Tangfastic Cherry’s and fizzy cola bottles if I had to pinpoint them specifically. These were found on the way in and were the first purchase of the day. Surprisingly, they’ve lasted me all week and although they aren’t quite Haribo they come a close second.

£12.39 for 8 packs from Amazon

Harper’s Bizarres Soya Candle in Cinnamon Dreams

I’m a huge candle lover, so finding Vegan scented candles that are animal friendly was like a dream come true. If the array of deliciously scented candles wasn’t enough to fuel our need to buy things, the lady behind it all was an absolute pleasure to talk to and made the whole experience of sniffing candles a thousand times more exciting. This candle was an experimental one and I really hope they decide to make more because it is absolutely gorgeous. I’ve already got a list of the other candles I’m going to pick up from her online store next payday as well.

£5.00 from Harper’s Bizarres

Dairy-Free Bellissimo Parmesan

As a child we would always have grated Parmesan in the cupboard reserved strictly for “Spag Bol” nights, after discussing this at the Harper’s Bizarres stand, we were kindly pointed into the direction of Ananda foods where they had an ample supply of Vegan Parmesan. I’ve tried it since on a few pasta dishes and it’s absolutely perfect as well as reunited me with a few childhood memories.

£3.49 from Ananda Foods

Lush Snow Fairy

I wish they had pop up Lush stands everywhere! I can maybe manage to stand in a store for about 10 seconds before I’m hit in the face with a massive migraine, so being able to browse a few bits without this was amazing. Gem spotted the snow fairy first and after I’d given it a sniff I was hooked. I bought this and ended up with a free sample of beard wax and a badge too.

£3.75 from Lush

Banana Choc Drizzle Marshmallows

As I mentioned above, I miss marshmallows so much and recently thrived off having a taste of “Freedom Mallows” in a recent Vegan Kind box. When I saw these I just had to try them. I’m a bit of a sucker for Banana flavored things, so I was pretty excited about munching my way through these, even if my inner self was frowning at the potential calorie count. Despite my excitement though, they weren’t that nice which was a little disappointing. Having been spoiled with Freedom Mallows I think I ruined the future of Vegan mallows for myself. Still they won’t go to waste as my other half will be sinking his teeth into them.

£3.75 from Ananda Foods

Vegan Kind #TVK12 Box

Amie has been a subscriber to the amazing Vegan Kind box for nearly a year now, but I’ve never quite talked myself into it on the basis that I’m a really fussy eater (and anytime there is something I would enjoy inside Amie shares hers with me anyway!) but after meeting the lovely masterminds behind the box I just had to pick on up from their stand. You can see the full contents and read Amie’s thoughts on TVK12 here.

£7.00 (full price £10 + P&P) from The Vegan Kind

Harper’s Bizarres Soya Candle in Waffles

I really had to talk myself out of buying one of everything from the Harper’s Bizarres stand, but finally settled on “Waffles” a one-off experiment fragrance that completely satisfied all my sugary cravings! All the candles are handmade from vegan-friendly soy wax and are completely animal friendly, and with so many gorgeous scents on offer I’m sure to be placing another order online soon!

£5.00 from Harper’s Bizarres

Dairy-Free Bellissimo Parmesan

I am one of those terrible vegetarians who tries to go vegan every other week but ultimately fails because of cheese. This however might just be my savoir! It’s not too heavy on the calories and does have a lovely nutty cheesy flavour.

£3.49 from Ananda Foods

Round Up Hand Crafted Gourmet Wagon Wheel Cake

The thing I miss most from my omnivore days is probably a toss-up between jelly sweets and marshmallows, so seeing a whole stand full of fluffy white nommy-ness, I knew I had to have something. I settled for a vegan wagon wheel and oh my god – it’s the best thing ever! Way nicer than I remember it being even!

£2.50 from Ananda Foods

Lush Snow Fairy

I’ve always wanted to try Snow Fairy, but much like Amie I find that going into the Lush stores gives me a headache. Seeing it on the Lush stand meant I had to have a quick sniff and it was purchased mere moments later! The lovely Lush ladies also gave me a free beard wax that has been put aside for Roode, and a badge.

£3.75 from Lush

Miso On The Go Soup

I’m not actually a fan of miso soup as I find it far too fishy, but my other half adores all things that taste of the ocean so he will be receiving the many many free samples I picked up along the trip!

£0.90 from Clearspring

We had an amazing time and already can’t wait for our next Vegan adventures. It definitely makes us feel more comfortable knowing that we can still eat all the (naughty) nice things whilst keeping up our cruelty free lifestyle. Have you been to any Vegan/Veggie related events recently? If so, let us know which ones and what spoils you picked up!

Totally hellbent for not having to check labels when we shop

Gem & Pants